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Portland police to ask city to restore school resource, gang enforcement and traffic cops in next budget

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Portland Police Chief Mike Reese and his police managers have identified 10 priorities they want funded in next year's budget. They intend to ask for about $5 million in additional spending.
(Doug Beghtel/The Oregonian/October 2012)

Despite Portland's mayor cautioning the city's bureau leaders that next fiscal year he intends to craft a "stabilization" budget, the Police Bureau plans to ask for millions in additional spending to restore school resource, gang enforcement and traffic officer positions chopped this year.

The loss of those jobs this fiscal year has led to fewer traffic citations, a significant dip in the bureau's clearance rate for solving gang crimes and left a city high school without an assigned police officer, police officials said this week.

"Last year we took a big cut,'' Chief Mike Reese said. "We want to add some capacity back to the Portland Police Bureau.''

Police brass have identified $5 million in additional spending that they will request to cover 10 bureau priorities when the chief submits a proposed budget by Feb. 3, said Catherine Reiland, the bureau's fiscal manager. A chunk of that includes more than $1 million in costs associated with newly negotiated labor contracts. Portland’s fiscal year begins July 1.

It will ask for $431,000 to restore a sergeant and four officer positions in the traffic division that were eliminated this fiscal year; $284,000 to restore a sergeant and two full-time officers to the Gang Enforcement Team, and $356,000 to bring back four full-time school resource officers in its Youth Services Division.

Reiland said the loss of five traffic officers has resulted in less traffic enforcement. The bureau estimated last year that losing the five traffic officers would result in 217 fewer arrests for driving under the influence of intoxicants and fewer traffic citations, according to budget documents. It's unclear if that has materialized.

"The level of citations is way down. Our level of service has definitely gone down,'' Reiland said Wednesday night, addressing the bureau's budget advisory committee.

Returning three full-time positions to the Gang Enforcement Team will enable its members to spend more time investigating gang-related crimes instead of simply responding to crime scenes. In a year's time, the team's rate of clearing or solving gang-related crimes, such as non-fatal shootings and stabbings, has plummeted from 40 percent to 26 percent, according to police.

Currently, there is no school resource officer assigned to Lincoln High School and the elementary and middle schools that feed into it. There are currently 12 school resource officers covering three school districts, including Portland Public, Parkrose and David Douglas.

"The officers are really stretched out,'' said retired police Sgt. George Weatheroy, who now is head of security for the Portland Public School District. "In some ways, they're set up to fail.''

Reese said he's heard from 128 Lincoln High School parents who are disturbed there's no school resource officer assigned to the school. The school resource officers, he said, establish rapport with students and help stave off violence.

"We'll probably hone this package a little more to what we see as the most critical needs of the bureau,'' Reese said.

$585,000 to support the mainframe computer enterprise server that still supports the Portland Police Data System

$223,000 in maintenance costs for the bureau's new Training Facility. Reiland said the maintenance costs were not identified when the project was initially approved by City Council. The bureau hopes to move into the new training center by September of this year.

$209, 181 to allow the city's Bureau of Technology Services to help maintain the police bureau's radio system and dedicate a staffer to police technology projects.

$1.49 million to put video/audio-recording cameras in all the police bureau's cars over the next four years. Currently, there are about 10 patrol cars and a number of traffic cars outfitted with the cameras. The bureau will argue the technology will allow for "greater accountability, and transparency,'' and help reduce litigation against officers.